Bleeders “So Lonely”

I’ve just realised something. As I moved into videos from 2004, suddenly the quality of the files on YouTube was reduced, with 240p being pretty standard. Why? Because unlike earlier videos, these ones weren’t uploaded, say, a couple of years ago. A lot of videos from 2004 were uploaded in 2006 when YouTube was only about a year old and only had one quality level – 320 x 240 pixels. So we have now entered the era of native YouTube uploads and with it comes blocky, pixelly video quality.

So, we find the Bleeders in 240p glory playing their song in a black studio, with band members sparingly lit. It’s all very shadowy. The band are mostly dressed in black, along with their uniform black hair, though the guitarist is really letting everyone down with his bright red guitar.

And that’s basically it: the Bleeders dressed in black, playing “So Lonely” in a black room. It’s not the first time this style has been used (Stella used a less dramatic black setting for their “Star” video), and it’s always struck me an effective way to do a low-budget video that doesn’t look cheap.

I imagine a video like this playing on C4 and all the Bleeders fans being really into it. It’s not an amazing video that’s about to go viral, but far as being a Bleeders video goes, it’s doing a good job.

Best bit: the brief moment of stillness when the band pose together against a wall.